


Breath of Her Heart

by hotpantsasami



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, zelink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 12:42:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10662831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hotpantsasami/pseuds/hotpantsasami
Summary: Post-BOTW, semi-canon journey of Zelda and Link surveying Hyrule. Left to start putting back the pieces of the kingdom together, they quickly begin to realize their feelings for one another after the stress of a hundred years. But both of them will need the other to get through it all.Fluffy Zelink with emotional Link and flirty Zelda. Not nearly as serious as it sounds.





	1. A Torrent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rainy, emotional Link beginning...

Chapter I 

The rain started coming down in torrents, turning the jagged Cliffs of Quince into waterfalls. Link could feel the wind whip against his ears under the hood, but he had gotten a bit numb to the rain over time. He looked back at Zelda, making sure she was still okay and realizing she hadn’t been in rain like this in 100 years. Her horse was slowing and had its ears back, his hoofs sloshing in the rivulets in the path. She had her head down and he could see she was grimacing against the wind, her clothes getting drenched. He pulled the reigns back on his horse and strode next to her. He reached to pull her horse’s reigns forward, her head hanging heavy to look at him.

          “Thank you…”, she said quietly, that Link could almost not hear her in the gale. Link knew he had to get them out of the rain and into Hateno Village before the road turned into mush. He had done it before, the riding through storms, but he didn’t want to force his horse to do that in front of her, or especially make her do that. As he could feel the chilling wind nearly blow his hood off, he imagined the warmth of his meager home in the village. It was still quite bare, but he had renovated the hearth not long before he went to fight Ganon. He looked forward to improving the house for years to come, but he knew he would do most of that when he and Zelda were finished with their travels, which could be some time from now.

The rain lightened up a little as they approached the woods before the village. Link was still pulling Zelda’s horse along, the two of them riding close, their legs almost touching. He jumped a little when he felt her wet hand touch his arm,

          “Come on, let’s stop for a minute”. He looked at her hand and he dragged his eyes up to meet her gaze. She looked tired but her smile lit up the gloomy downpour around them. He couldn’t help but feel his smile peek back at her.

She helped him lead the horses to the woodside, and he jumped off first. He went around to help her down off her horse, which was tall and required a bit of effort on both their parts. He waited for her to swing her leg over and he braced himself, holding her around her waist as she had one foot in the stirrup, bringing her down. Her clothes were soaking wet, as were his, but he felt some hair swish out of her hood for just a second, softly smack against his face. She didn’t move from his arms for a second, and she giggled softly,

          “Are you going to let me go?”. By the time she finished saying it, he had let her go, feeling her tangible warmth underneath all those wet clothes slip away in doing so. She looked at him standing in the rain, and pulled him towards the trees.

He felt butterflies in his stomach and head, not realizing he had held her longer than necessary until after it happened. His head spun a little and he was glad she led the way, the two of them sitting underneath a bay tree. He felt her hand slide out of his slowly as they rested under the tree, Zelda looking a little more cheerfully now towards the cliffs. Truthfully, Link was a little worried about what would happen when they got to Hateno Village. It was improper for him to think about it and he had been trying to avoid it, but ever since they crossed Fort Hateno it was plaguing his mind. They were supposed to be on a journey to reunify Hyrule and see what needed repair in the kingdom (which was just about everything). But it was also about giving Zelda a new life to see how things had changed after all this time, and that was what made him sad for her. He had realized she had been crying from time to time on horseback. She cried often to be fair, unfortunately. But at the same time she had reassured him it was because she was so happy to see the kingdom again. She also said it was because she was happy to be with him again, but he tried not to think about that too much either. He didn’t want to cry again in front of her like he did after defeating Ganon, when she told him she had her limitations and regrets. His stomach throbbed with emotion and he realized he was holding himself.

          “Are you okay?”, she nudged him, said in a tender voice. He gasped awake from thought, nodded heavily, gulping back his feelings. She sighed and leaned against him. He wished he could feel her soft hair but it was her wet hood instead. He let out a loud exhale as he put his arm between her and the tree. He felt himself lean into her, felt Zelda smirking.

          “We’re almost there, you know”, he said, speaking for the first time in a while. He usually said three to five sentences a day, sometimes more when necessary. She was encouraging him to speak more. Sometimes it was gentle reminders _, ‘whenever you feel like talking, I’m here now’_. Sometimes she tried to trick him into talking. He had to admit he did like telling her things from time to time. He would try to do it in Hateno Village if he could, but he still struggled with overcoming his nerves.

He felt her hand slide on top of his again, enclasping it warmly and fondly. Her head sat on his shoulder and was sliding partly on his chest. Her handy wanderings made him wake up and he held his breath, wondering if she would touch his chest. He cleared his throat, the back of her head rubbing against him, he secretly thankful for the warmth.

          “AHHeM”, he grumbled again loudly. She made a small noise, sat up a little,

     “Oh, excuse me, I was almost falling asleep there, getting comfortable…”. He made a small throat noise himself, rubbed her back, still between her and the rough tree bark. “Mmmmm”, she moaned lightly, settling back against him. He smiled at her just being content with him out here in the rain, and he almost thought he could slip into it too. But he knew he had to do right by her and get them up that short hill to Hateno. The rumbles of thunder were a distant concern now and it really wasn’t long. If they ran they would make it pretty quickly. He held the back of her head in his hand, and he looked into her soft, glowing face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing soft, and he didn’t have the heart to shake her awake. Or maybe he was lazy and didn’t feel like talking or hearing her protests. He sighed and got on his knees to slide his other arm under her waist, lifting her up. He was very careful in how he stood up, trying to smoothly get on his horse while carrying her still. As he clicked his tongue to tell Zelda’s horse to follow behind, Zelda stirred a little.

          “Hmm, Link, what are you doing…”, her voice mischievous but finishing quietly. She nuzzled up to his chest again and didn’t seem like she would bother to wake up. Link knew Zelda could be a little tricky sometimes, it was starting to come back to him more and more now. He was 100 years wiser and a whole lot less naïve this time and was prepared to deal with whatever sass she might give him. Sure, he would be aware of it, but that didn’t mean he would always be sassy back. He still felt bad for making her wait long, and that she deserved all the rest she needed in this case. He would be stubborn  about the other sassbacks.

They rounded the corner to the final stretch to Hateno Village, Link thankful those two truffle sisters weren’t out in this rain that he had had to save before. He spurred the horses on to reach the top as the rain was finally down to a steady downpour, the winds quieted down. He had forgotten how peaceful Hateno Village was by night, and how welcoming it felt. He led the horses through the newly built Bolson houses, wondering if there could be new owners in them, across the bridge to their humble old home.

_Their_. There he went again, blushing. It had only been a few weeks since they defeated Ganon, and they had spent most of that time in the Tabantha and Ridgeland regions. Link had told her it was a good decision to go back to his home and regroup and rest for a while. She could also meet Purah and study up on more of the shrines she was so excited to delve into. He also wanted to show her his house, for as bashful as he was about that. It seemed so silly now, and part of something so far away, to even try to conjure the word _sleepover_ from his very early memories. He embarrassingly remembered secretly wishing he could just have a sleepover with Zelda before the Calamity happened, even when their relationship wasn’t all that great. It was childish and sort of unseemly, but in some ways that’s maybe what he wanted to bring Zelda to Hateno Village for. Having a home there also would do her wonders, a place for her to call her own in the gargantuan undertaking of fixing the crumbling castle. Truthfully, he had never really wanted to live there alone from the beginning. He liked having Bolson and Karson nearby while they could, and after they left he didn’t spent much time at the house before he went off to Ganon.

But what he had always wanted was to get to know her better, have a candid night where she could complain about her father and her stress, and he could complain about whatever he was stressed about. He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not, but he couldn’t remember much of his training or his parents. He really still didn’t remember much at all except for his realizations about Zelda and the Calamity  on his quest.

He had stared into space for a moment in front of the house, still holding a soft, sleeping Zelda. He gulped, and tried to get off his horse in one motion.

Zelda woke up as she felt him lurch backward, he startled at her sudden movement. Both their entire weights were being held on one stirrup, and Link lost his footing. He fell back onto the wet ground with a yelp, he breaking her fall. Zelda let out a shout, her elbow digging hard into his stomach as she fell, no way for her not to fall.

Link cried out again, plopping his head back on the wet ground. He was _so_ done.

          “Link! Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry! Can you get up? Are you alright..?”. She tried to pull him to his feet and he resisted, wincing in pain. He felt pretty rotten now, just wanting to lie there while he got the wind back in his ribcage. There was no way he’d look smooth or thoughtful now after that little mishap. He should’ve just been a dick and woken her up to walk up the hill…

          “Link, please say something…!”, she said kneeling over him. He gasped back into space, breathed in raggedly,

          “Huh, yeah, I’m okay, I guess…”, he said, acting noticeably pouty. Now Zelda would tease him for being a dramatic baby.

          “Come on, I’ll pick _you_ up!…”, she offered sweetly, patting his face, feeling the drops of rain on her hand.

_That_ was not what he expected next.

Zelda shoved her hands underneath him like a pitchfork, and put a foot forward to try to lift him up.

          “HaaH!”, he let out, surprised that she could actually pick him up! She grunted with effort, feeling her diminished muscles struggle under his weight. Through the strain in her smile she let out a breathy giggle, her face close to his. He grunted as he wriggled out of her grasp, back on his feet.

          “Hey, maybe I wanted to carry you over the threshold!”, she said, finishing it with a wry wink. As he stood up, he felt the fall in his back, rubbed it sorely. The rain was finally light enough now he didn’t have to listen hard to hear her.

          “I’m sorry if I made you fall, but we can talk about it later, come on, let’s go inside!...”, she said. Zelda took the reins of her horse and stepped forward. Her eyes grew wider as she realized where they were.

          “Oh!! Is… is this it..??”, she began happily, albeit a bit confused. She walked forward, holding her hands to her chest, surveying the house. Her eyes lingered over the rustic walls, the vines that had started growing while he was gone apparently. Her face especially lit up when she saw the falling down stable, the apple tree… and the flowers that he had asked Bolson to plant months before. There were weeds growing in with them now, but they still brightened up the place.

          “Oh, Link!! … It’s quite… quaint!”, she stepped towards him, under the awning at the door. Link smirked, knew she was used to much more opulence. Still, the castle was in bad disrepair when he got there. He was glad to give her something new.

          “Come inside…”, he said, opening the door. He was a little surprised he said it because it seemed a little unnecessary to say somewhat. He figured it was the comfort in his heart of seeing Zelda excited about the house. _Her excitement_ … got to him like that…

There were leaks dripping through the roof. Multiple leaks. The place was awfully cold, having been barren for a while. There was a chest in the corner however, and his gear displays. He had considered getting a table after Bolson and Karson left his yard, but he didn’t get to it. His home seemed a little lacking of… homeliness, without a kitchen table. He didn’t have any chairs either. His bed was the only other thing he had in the house.

Zelda’s face seemed a little less enthusiastic now. He didn’t blame her, but it just inspired him to fix up the place now for her, starting tomorrow. Rain sloughed off her clothes onto the hardwood floor, and he watched it pool on the floor as she walked in towards the fireplace.

          “Well, don’t stand around, Link, get our things off the horses and make it hospitable in here, won’t you?”, she said bossily. She gave him a knowing smile afterward, her arms crossed. He rolled his eyes, and went back out into the rain to unburden the horses.

          “Hey, don’t roll your eyes at me!”, she jested playfully, he smirking back over his shoulder as he stepped out the door.


	2. An Unorthodox Slumber Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heat is turned up once they reach Link's Hateno Village home...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art credit to redundantartz.tumblr.com !  
> (Thank you for the bit of Zelda-in-Link's-shirt inspiration!)

Chapter II

He felt the drops roll down his back, throwing his hair back majestically with a smirk as the rain kept falling. He felt a little embarrassed at himself for that as he unloaded their sleeping rolls and sacks, realizing he only did it in case Zelda was watching. She probably wasn’t. To be fair, he was soaking wet.

They… _both_ … were…

Oh, _Goddess_. He didn’t think of that. He had his other armor with him, and he could throw on the warm doublet, and some other pants, or even go pants less. It was Zelda who didn’t really have another set of clothes. He could give her his travel tunic, and... some pants? Would any fit her? He gulped, squeezing the bridle of one of the horses as he imagined her in one of his shirts, but no pants. He felt his core shake, and he breathed in heavily as he tried to clear his mind. But his knees wobbled as he tried to imagine what he would wear, what _she_ would wear… His Sheikah tribe outfit maybe? Or too fitting to his form to fit her? His Snowquill clothes? Or would they be too burdensome for her?....

_His Gerudo vai disguise…_

He tripped over the step to his door, caught himself on the frame. She saw him nearly fall into his own house, and giggled, but realized that was a little mean.

          “You okay?”, she came up and helped grab some of the bags. He gave her a little smile. They didn’t break each other’s gazes, watching one another as Zelda put down the bags. He snorted back into consciousness as he noticed they were both staring at each other, and she spoke up,

          “Um, you should get out of those wet clothes… _we_ should get out of these wet clothes...”, she said rubbing her neck and looking aside. She looked awkwardly like that at the floor for a minute, Link doing the same, before she got some of her courage back.

          “Hmm, so what fanciful clothes do you have that I might wear? It would just be for tonight, I could give them back tomorrow when my current clothes are a bit dryer…”, she shrugged cutely, trying to make the best of this. Link had a knot in his throat that wouldn’t go away with any amount of gulping. He just had to suck it up and do this.         

          “Ehh…”, he started, his voice wavering. His desire to speak was minuscule but he didn’t have much choice. “Umm, I have some… things, you might wear… um, uh, I’m not sure you’re my… size”. His body was shaking, and he hoped she wouldn’t make an issue of it. He pulled at his collar, the room suddenly feeling a little warmer despite not lighting a fire yet.

          “Look, we’re both…”, Zelda began, walking up to him. She stopped and quickly glanced up and down his body, gulped herself and said, “… _adults_ here. No need to feel self- _conscious_ or anything”. Her voice warbled, her eyes taking him in again. Link’s mouth was agape, a little surprised at how she couldn’t compose herself.

          “You don’t… mean that”, Link said aloud. He foggily recalled having to be in the same room with her a few times when she was changing back in the old days. The way they had been traveling so far, they gave each other a good amount of space, being outside and all. And they had used Rito Village as a base to go back to sleep at for much of their traveling so far when they were in Tabantha. The Rito had graciously given them separate little cabins when they stayed there.

Suddenly, in this dark, confined space, they faced the inevitability of being _quite_ close to one another.

          “Um, yes, I…”, Zelda had her hands folded, was visibly quaking, straightened out her collar as well. “Please… show me what garments you might have that I might… wear…”, her voice fell as Link approached her and grasped her forearm gently,

          “Are you okay? Come up here and sit down”. He pulled her slowly towards the stairs and she followed.

          “Thank you..,”, she said breathily, looking a bit flustered. Link was slightly surprised at how well he was handling this, but he guessed his princess caretaking instincts were kicking in. And it was best not to question those.

She sat with a thud on his bed, and she observed the empty loft for a moment.

           “You really haven’t done much with this place, have you…”. She scooted back on the bed and frowned. “And this bed is pretty… wooden”, she said, trying to give it a bounce.

           “Well, I’ll put that on my list of things to improve, to stuff the bed with downy Rito feathers…”, he said back with an air of sass to his voice.

           “Mmhm, yes, those beds were so nice…”, she said, her composure improved, falling back on the bed.

            “Wait till you try the Zora water beds, those are heavenly!”, Link said, his mind hopping to the Zora for a minute as he went back downstairs to grab more off the horses. The Zora… was that why he loved those beds so much? Because he played with Mipha in them? _Oh boy_ … there was still a lot he wasn’t remembering. Had he had a relationship with that lovely girl? As Link grabbed another heavy bag and hefted it over the threshold, he dropped it on his foot. _What if he had an ex-wife??!!_ He wished his past self wasn’t _that much_ of a stone-cold stud. He couldn’t have, could he? It was vague, but he could tell he spent most of his adolescence in training or at the castle with Zelda. He felt bad about it, but his memories were still an unfinished canvas. Maybe this journey was good for him too in that regard, maybe his memories would come back in his travels.  

His face felt very hot as he began to rustle for his Snowquill set, trying to bash back any thoughts that he may have been a … _husband_. Well, Sidon didn’t make it seem like it, but… _Ohmygodwhatwashedoing_ \- _hadhetriedanythingoutofwedlock?_ - _whatifwhatifwhatif_ …

            “Did you find some clothes??!!”, she shouted happily, making Link toss one of his shirts up in the air, shouting in surprise. _Get it together, Link!_ _Those aren’t very appropriate thoughts right now._ He held in his breath and grit his teeth, huffed up the stairs stiffly while carrying the Snowquill clothes.

Zelda looked at him puzzledly,

            “…Why are you looking at me like that…?”.

His knees wobbled a little and he could feel a scary grin from ear to ear he wore. He tried to gulp and ease it a little, trying to catapult his mind back into the current situation at Hateno Village and not let his mind bubble up unseemly memories. _Hell, maybe that’s why he wasn’t remembering more._ Everything was painful, or in this case, inappropriate… and he didn’t _want_ to remember. _Sigh_ , but he was going to have to _eventually_ …

           “Uh, huh… hup!”, he offered the clothes to her with outstretched arms.

           “Hmm, back to not talking again, I see…”, she mused, taking them from him. “Now, if you please, how ‘bout a little privacy, hrmm…”.

Link jumped over the loft railing and down to the lower level in a flash. He crossed his arms and stared at the little window on the left side of the house.

          “Hmm, you better not look up here, now…”, she said as he could hear her muffle the shirt over her head. He had only given her the tunic and the pants, not the headpiece. It should still be plenty warm for her… hopefully enough not to ask him into bed with her… she wouldn’t…

          “Oh! A little big, but these are lovely! I love how soft they are! I feel like a Rito!”. Link came back up the stairs, and his jaw nearly dropped. She looked warm and cozy now, and the sleeves were just adorably a little too long for her. He tried not to get weak in the knees again. She giggled.

          “Hmm, thank you, Link! Although I do hope these won’t be too hot for tonight..”, she said, looking puzzlingly at the long sleeves. She grinned at them and then flapped them. “Tee-hee, I’ll fit right in with the Rito next time”. _How was she so cute…_

          “Now Link, why don’t you get out of your clothes, don’t tell me they have dried by now…”. _There’s a sentence he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear_. He pulled at his tunic and it was indeed still damp enough it would bother him to sleep in. He noticed her discarded wet clothes on the floor, strange to see them piled up like that.

          “Don’t be shy, anytime now!!!”, she said with an adorable smile, sitting on the bed. What… was she being serious?

          “Hagh! Ah… huh? Really, where’s my privacy…!?”.

          “Oh, you don’t remember…”, she said in as convincing a tone as possible. “You used to change all the time in front of me, you didn’t seem to mind”.

          “Uhhhhhhhhhhh… I don’t think I recall that…”. She looked at him with catlike, beckoning eyes.

          “Well, of course I can understand if you’ve gotten some modesty over 100 years, by all means, then…”

          “Yes, by all means…”, he said with his nose in the air, walking back downstairs. He grabbed his other tunic and pants, and decided to change outside, rain be damned. Change in front of her, was she mad! How presumptuous a thought! If he had changed in front of her, her eyes would be hungry for him like she would a piece of fruitcake. She’d look at his butt! _Well, she wasn’t getting a look at this booty for free this easy_ , Link thought cockily.

He marched back in, wearing his traveler tunic and his Sheikah tights. He brought their two bedrolls up to the loft with him.

          “There, doesn’t that feel much better now that you’re dry?”, Zelda said. She was laying on her stomach with her legs crossed in the air behind her, perched on her elbows. She watched as he unrolled their sleep mats, he noticing her staring out of the corner of his eye.

          “Those pants are very befitting of you, you’ll have to show me the whole outfit sometime”, she winked. SHE WINKED. Not just a wink… like, a… romantic lady wink! Tattered memories of his mother drifted back into his head of her telling him how girls flirted with guys…. _He needed to go to bed_ …

_SAY SOMETHING YOU IDIOT SHE’S LOOKING AT YOU…_

“Uh… hu.. huh, um… thanks”, he said meekly, trying not to blush profusely by scratching his back. _This was an awful thought but would he rather be facing down a guardian right now…_ “Would you like something to eat? I can make you something if you’re hungry…”. He purposely tried to prolong that sentence to make it seem like he was saying more when he wasn’t.

          “Oh, um… that’s very kind of you, but at this rate, we might as well go to sleep and wait for breakfast”. She started twirling a piece of hair, looked at him cutely. “That is, if we wake up for breakfast, I know we’re both pretty tired”. She gave him a half-lidded look, part fondness and part asleep. She yawned, still looking at him sitting on the bedrolls. He had put hers underneath his for extra cushion.

          “Huh, right…”, he scratched the back of his neck, and got under the blanket. He had his head down for about twenty seconds before she spoke up…

          “Oh! Link! Are you sleeping down there! Oh please, I didn’t realize…”, she moved aside on the bed, rolling back the sheet. “This is your bed! How inconsiderate of me, I wouldn’t make you sleep down there…!”. Zelda stopped and noticed Link wasn’t moving.

          “Link? Link!”. She peered over the side of the bed at him on the floor. _He dared not move. This wasn’t happening. Nope nope nope._

          “Link? Oh please! I know you couldn’t fall asleep that fast!”.

          Link felt the wallop of the bed pillow on his ears, he said a muffled _ouch_ into the bedroll.

          “Oh, come on, don’t play me like that!”, Zelda playfully said, on all fours on the bed. Link, with inhibition out the window apparently, stood up and groped for his bedroll to wap something back at Zelda, said,

          “No fair! I don’t have any extra pillows!”. He fell forward on his knees on the bed next to her, attempting to wallop her back with what was essentially thick blanket. Zelda fell back giggling as Link tried to bap her with the bedroll, before he gave up and grabbed the pillow from her.

          “No fair, using the pillow against me!”, she said, almost hysterically laughing. He stopped for a second, realizing he was on his knees and partially above her, and was in a position not far from her mercy.

And that’s just what she did…

She threw her arms around his neck, a tired but fulfilled look on her soft face.

          “Hmm, good now go to bed, and I’m not letting go…”.

_Link almost popped a vessel._

“Heh?!!! Hahhh????”

          “Nuh-uh-uh, use your words”, she put a finger to his lips.

          “Let me out of this bed, Zelda”.

          “Nuh-uh-uh, I’m not letting go, remember?”. She stroked his chin and cheek with her soft hands. _What a woman to still have soft hands after 100 years of fighting Ganon._

          “Zelda, come on, let me…argggHH!”. Zelda shrieked as Link lifted her up. He tried to pull away from her by getting up. But instead, she came right with him, to her credit not letting go (slightly choking him). And, he ended up picking her up. He held her now by the waist, having grabbed it out of instinct as she had come up with him. Worst though, she had her legs wrapped around him to balance both of them.

Why was this happening, this was the last thing he…

          …

          …

Okay, maybe it wasn’t _so_ bad. After all, wasn’t this what he had wanted when he thought sleepover? Could she really be that cold? Or was she being polite somehow in letting him sleep in his own bed…?

She let out a loud exhale, and he zoomed back into the fact that Zelda, heir apparent of Hyrule, was wrapped around his neck and body in a less than ideal situation.

          “Uh…”, she tried to speak, but closed her mouth, staring up into his face a little. Usually, they were right at the same height, and it was new for Zelda to be a little shorter than him, especially with her legs _wrapped around his waist…_

How could he explain this to someone, he thought? Granted, he didn’t have anybody to explain this to…

          “Link, please put me down…”, she was finally able to say, her voice airy. He gulped, and slowly walked them to the bed, setting her down gently. He stood next to the bed, not a clue what to do next.

          “That is, if you wanted to let me go…”, she said, her more lively, flirtatious side filling her back up. She got comfortable back under the covers and reopened the covers to him,

          “Please come when you’re ready, don’t worry, I won’t bite”, she said cutely, lying back on her stomach. Her eyes were piqued in interest but were more welcoming than overbearingly flirty.

He made a deep sigh, Zelda giggling lightly as he did so. He stretched for a minute, trying to prepare himself a little more mentally for someone else’s arms and warmth _. It had been a very long time_ …

He got down into the bed with another sigh, his head instantly more happy hitting the pillow and the newish bed he had called his own. His back was thankful for the slight more comfort than the bedroll on the floor…

          “Hey! Give me some pillow too!”. She suddenly got very close to Link, that if he were to turn around, they would be face to face. He wondered if that’s what she was trying, but he was wiser to that.

          “Hmm, should I try this…”, Link leaned out of the bed, grabbed one of the bedrolls and wadded it up as best he could. He caught her watching him cutely out of the corner of his eye. He rolled on his stomach, realized how close she was too him in doing so. He pushed the single pillow to as much the opposite side of the twin-size bed as he could, plonked the wadded up bedroll under him. He let his head fall down, trying to make it seem like he was falling fast asleep again.

          “Hmm, alright”, Zelda said, turning her back to him in a little defeat.

Link was actually able to clear his mind, enjoying the comfort of the basic bed, but also improved by her added warmth, he had to admit. She heard him whisper,

          “Link? Link…”,

He didn’t respond. She tried again,

          “ _Link_ …”. He made a small muffled groan,

          “Link, this bed isn’t very comfortable, Link…”, she nudged closer to his back. “Can… can you… I know this is asking a lot, but, can you…”.

He made a guttural noise from his throat, flipped himself over and slipped one arm under her in the same movement. She gasped lightly as he wrapped his other arm around her warm waist. His nose was on top of her head, purposely putting his nose there as to keep her face at bay and to… admittedly get a whiff of her gorgeous hair. Link could face he had some fondness for parts of her yet. He just wasn’t going to be so accommodating so quickly.

          “Oh, oh….”, Zelda said in a little moan, realizing she was in his chest and could put her head over his neck.

          “Hmm, I suppose this is agreeable…”, she said softly to him, tickling his ear. “But don’t get too comfy”, she said lazily, feeling a little drool on his ear from her lips. He stroked his fingers on her back a couple times as he heard her drift asleep. He let himself feel a little proud and accomplished for saving and taking care of such a beautiful princess. He knew she didn’t really like to be called princess, reminding her of her responsibilities, but maybe her attitude towards that had changed now. He had always had a soft spot that wanted to call her princess…

_Sentimental fool_ , he chided himself. It was only the first night they had found themselves in this situation together and he was already letting those thoughts slip in. If he was going to keep on his toes regarding Zelda, he had to be a little tougher than that.

He fell asleep, focusing in on the sound of her breathing next to his ear.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full image link here http://redundantartz.tumblr.com/post/158899741086
> 
> Thank you for reading and thank you for any comments!


End file.
